Articles

Based in California, Suzy Thompson has had a solid career as both a singer, guitarist, and fiddle player. She was influenced by blues singers and players such as Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, and got her fiddle chops from such Cajun players like Dewey Balfa, Dennis McGee, and Wade Fruge. She has played with artists…

When Marty Falle writes, he thinks in records, not singles. “That’s what I believe the original singer-songwriter artist is all about,” he says. His formula, which works for him, is “to write the record: write what’s in your heart, in your experience.” To judge by the radio play and the number of tracks charting off…

Two Masters of Flatpicking Join Forces Photos by Joshua Black Wilkins Years ago I wrote an article about Norman Blake and stated that if there were a Mt. Rushmore for flatpicking guitar, the players whose faces would be carved in that mountain would be Doc Watson, Clarence White, Dan Crary, Norman Blake and Tony Rice….

Ohio musician Joe Mullins is one of bluegrass music’s stalwarts. He is an excellent banjo player whose career also included being a member of such bands as The Traditional Grass and Longview. He is also the owner of a radio station and is a broadcaster.   Since forming The Radio Ramblers in 2006, Mullins and…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1985, Volume 20, Number 3 Some great names in bluegrass picked under an old oak tree in Harris, North Carolina many years ago. Oren Jenkins, who still lives in this rural community, remembers summer nights when he, his brother Hoke and his uncle Dewitt “Snuffy” Jenkins were joined there…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1989, Volume 24, Number 2 In October, 1988, Banjo Newsletter, the 5-string banjo magazine, celebrated fifteen years of continuous publication. That’s one magazine a month for fifteen years! That’s 180 magazines—all devoted to the 5-string banjo. “Surely,” you ask, “can there actually be that much to say about the…